BigWorldAndSmallWorld Blog

People say one must see Huangshan in one’s life time, how true it is. I was lucky to see it not too long ago. Huangshan is a mountain range in southern Anhui province in eastern China. The area is well known for its scenery, sunsets, peculiarly-shaped granite peaks, Huangshan pine trees, hot springs, winter snow, and views of the clouds from above. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Huangshan and the scenery has been the frequent subject of poetry and artwork, especially Chinese ink painting and, more recently, photography. Even though Chinese people like to take pictures with rocks that are painted or carved with words or poems, I normally just like to see it and move on. I like nature stuff much better. To me Huangshan is impressive with its beautiful sunset, sea of clouds, many strong and different shapes pine trees, and unique rock formations. Climbing up and down the 1-person-wide ladders on the mountain is truly memorable, it was scary but exciting. The memory of being on the mountain was still vivid as I go over my pictures a couple of years later.





Hongcun is a charming small village at the foot of Huangshan. I enjoyed the architecture and the market; this place truly is a gem of Hui culture. If you are like me who like the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon then you will be pleased to know that scenes from the film were filmed on location in Hongcun. It was a nice walk around the village seeing old residences and old furniture, people painting on the street, a nice pond in the middle of the village and walking over some very old stone bridges.
While in the area, visiting a market is a must. I enjoyed stroll along the street and window shopping. So many special local food and artifacts to taste and see on the market, it’s hard not to buy anything.

May 2016 I went to Seoul for Rotary International Conference. It was a super inspirational experience for me the first time attendee. Our district folks stayed at an Ibis Hotel. The hotel has a nice rooftop restaurant where I got a good view of Seoul.


The hotel is near Seoul’s famous shopping street Myeong-dong. It’s pleasant to stroll around, do some shopping and have a Korean mango ice.

After the conference, I took subway and Korea rail and took about two hours to get to an Incheon hotel where I started my 6-day Korea tour with a group.

Among all the places I went to in Korea, I like the Korea Cutural Village where Dae Jang Geum 大长今was filmed. In the village one can see Korea style old and relatively recent residences, wedding ceremony and other performance.


Another place I like is Namiseom南怡岛 a small half-moon shaped island. If you like the movie Winter Sonata then you will like this place and its pines.


景福宫Gyeongbokgung, also known as Gyeongbokgung Palace or Gyeongbok Palace, was the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty. Built in 1395, it is located in northern Seoul.

On the trip I ate some traditional Korean food such as many different hot pot, ginseng chicken noodle, seaweed rice, BBQ, kimchee and other, they were good.

Shanghai is my hometown. Each time I visit home, I try to see one or two new places. After all, Shanghai changes so fast, it’s all new to me. But no matter how it changes, Shanghai will always be the city I love.
A day in Shanghai May 2016
In the morning I walked from the place I stayed near Nanjing Road to Shanghai Exhibition Hall to attend a travel trade show. Two hours later I was at one of the 嘉里中心 building and seeing Shanghai’s busy street from above. A friend treated me for a delicious lunch at a Japanese restaurant and then I hop on a subway heading to Pudong to see another friend.
Later in the afternoon my friend took me to see the back stage and theater of a show she was putting on. Seeing actors and actresses was eye opening for me.
The next morning I went to Tianzifang 田子坊，I like the old Shanghai nostalgia atmosphere. On the way to lunch passed by a farmer’s market we called 小菜场. Nowadays farmer’s market is much cleaner and nicer. After some delicious Yunnan style lunch, I flew to Guangzhou for my next destination.

Sinan Mansions October 2015
Sinan Lu is a residential stretch of road located in the Luwan district and walking distance from both Tianzifang and Xintiandi. Most of the mansions there were built in the 1920s and 30s and housed Shanghai’s elite – including the political figures of Sun Yatsen and Zhou Enlai. In fact, Sinan Mansions is located right around Zhou Enlai’s house where now it’s a museum. The day when my brother took me there, Shanghai had a rare blue sky, it was a nice day.

The Old Pier老码头 October 2015
Near the Bund is the Old Pier. It was fun to visit the Old Pier with many restaurants, old buildings and even saw people taking wedding pictures there.

Nanjing Dapai Dang 南京大牌档 October 2015
If you haven’t tried this food chain, I highly recommend it. The hosts, waiters and waitresses wear old Chinese costume. The food comes in smaller dishes so that you can eat many different kinds. They have a thick menu and a ton of items to choose from. While you dine, you can listen to Pingtan评弹. Pingtan also known as Suzhou Pingtan, storytellers or Southern word, is storytelling performance use folk art forms and Suzhou dialect.

As 2013 turning to an end, I went to Taiwan for a 7-day around the island tour. I saw many attractions and ate a lot of good food. Taiwan people are nice and warm. I like Taiwan, it was a delightful experience.
Since I like nature, Taroko National Park, Sun Moon Lake and Island’s Most Southern tip gave me deep impression. Taroko NP located in Hualien County, it is one of the nine national parks in Taiwan and was named after the Taroko Gorge, the landmark gorge of the park carved by the Liwu River. The name, Taroko (formally as Truku), means “human being” in the Truku language of the Truku indigenous tribe. Long ago a Truku tribesman saw the beauty of the azure Pacific when he walked out of the gorge. On seeing the magnificent scene, he cried “Taroko!” And so it became the name of the place, in a fashion not dissimilar to how the island, Formosa, got its name.

Sun Moon Lake is the largest body of water in Taiwan, located in Nantou County. The area around the Sun Moon Lake is home to the Thao tribe, one of aboriginal tribes of Taiwan. Sun Moon Lake surrounds a tiny island called Lalu. The east side of the lake resembles a sun while the west side resembles a moon, hence the name. Taking a break to watch local Taiwanese people sing and dance at the pier was delightful.

Eluanbi Park is located at the southern tip of Taiwan and part of Kenting National park. The name ‘Eluan’ (鹅銮) is derived from Paiwan language meaning “sail” while the Chinese word ‘bi’ 鼻which means nose, refers to the shape of the cape. Though a little windy, the view of the seashore was amazing.

When you go to Taiwan, you must visit a night food market, there are so many delicious foods to choose from, it’s a foodie’s heaven. I went to Kaohsiung’s Liu He Night Market 六合夜市 and tried some tasty snacks including grilled squid and other delight. When you are in Tainan, be sure to eat the well-known Tainan noodle, it’s yummy.

Some of the other things I enjoyed to do are: visiting the National Palace Museum, it has some of the most beautiful jade collection in the world. Going to the top of Taipei 101, 360 city view from there was superb. Visiting Teresa Teng’s museum and listening to her album, Teresa Teng is my favorite pop singer of my time, her sweet voice and songs are timeless. I like many of her songs, too many to name a few.

A friend and I went to Guangdong in 2016 for two purposes: indulge in their mouth-watering delicious food and search for family root because our ancestors were from this region. Guangdong (formerly Canton), a coastal province of southeast China, borders Hong Kong and Macau. Its capital, Guangzhou, sits within its industrial Pearl River Delta region. While I don’t remember all the places we went on the 6-day gourmet food tour around Guangdong, I certainly remember some of the tastiest food we ate and I’m glad I took some pictures. Cantonese cuisine is one of China’s Eight Traditional Cuisines, it is also popular in the western world . Roast pigeon, egg custard, abalone, duck, crab, double-skin milk, dim-sum, roast suckling pig, and Foshan Chen-village noodle are among the favorite, too many to name the others.

Below are some of the pictures I took around the region. Best of all, I got to see two college friends whom I haven’t seen since we graduated from Fudan University many many years ago. It was delightful to see them and chat with them, even though it was a short time. The other fun thing I got to do was being drafted as a temporary actress for a show and I got to dress up and be on stage acting as an empress, it was so much fun and totally unexpected.